Between Left and Right
by NurfHurdur
Summary: Oneshots, AUs, and small drabbles spanning from before, and during, Hard Enough Left into Life's Highway.
1. King Henry

He was jealous. Not because the twins got more attention. He understood that they needed more attention, being younger then he was.

It was that he felt like they didn't include him, which only made him feel worse. What 9 year old got upset because a pair of 4 year olds lived in their own little world.

It shouldn't bother him, but when his friends all went home and the twins were his only option of someone to play with he'd feel like an outsider, making him feel ridiculous because again, they were 4.

He sat at the table in the kitchen, scuffing his foot against the floor when the two suddenly appeared at his side.

"Henry come with us?" Ruth asked, wanting to take his hand but was forced to hold onto his arm because she couldn't reach.

"Henry's doing homework." He replied, and wondered vaguely why he took on speaking in third person.

"Then you come with us?" Jesse stood on his toes in an attempt to see the table top and paper. When that didn't work he pushed one of the chairs back and climbed up. Soon Henry had an audience when all he wanted to do was finish his math homework. The two giggled and chattered between themselves as they waited for him to finally be ready. They apparently were only willing to wait so long, though, and were off and running again before he was finished.

He'd glared at the paper and continued in silence. Once he was finally finished, he left it out to be checked and hopped down from the chair.

He wondered sometimes how they did it, because before he even made it out of the kitchen, the twins had grabbed his hands and were dragging him down the hallway.

"Henry come with us now."

"We made a fort-"

"Shhh!"

"But he's gunna know anyway..."

They dragged him to their currently shared room, it was closest to their parent's room and made it easier to hear at night. There was a sheet draped between the beds, held with some books, and their pillows had been thrown on the floor beneath it.

Jesse spoke so fast, Henry could barely keep up. "This is your castle, 'cause you're King Henry and we're the-"

"It's a fort, Jesse, not a castle." Ruth cut him off.

Jesse paused and Henry could see the argument before it even started. "It's a castle."

"No we said it's a fort!"

"It's a castle!"

"Ok, woah, woah, woah-" Henry cut them off and waved a hand. "How about its a castle fort..."

The twins continued to pout at one another until Jesse remembered where he'd left off. "You're King Henry and we're your guards."

"So you have to sit in the fort."

"Castle."

"King Henry demands you stop fighting over what this is called..." He huffed and crawled in, smirking when they planted themselves on the floor just outside.

"If I'm the king, doesn't that make you a prince and princess?"

"Does it?"

"If I'm royalty then you're royalty. Royalty shouldn't be put on guard duty."

"Yeah but there's only us three."

Henry burst out laughing, somehow Jesse was always so pragmatic and he wasn't even old enough to go to school.

He rolled his eyes and sat cross legged. "I don't think I need guarded."

"Yeah." Ruth argued matter of factly. "Because we love you."

He blinked in surprise as two pair of blue eyes regarded him seriously, innocent and honest.

"Well...I love you both..." He motioned them in to the castle fort. "How about we guard each other."

The twins seemed to consider it before shuffling in to sit beside him, before long the three were sprawled over their own respective pillows and weren't found until much later when Sarah had gone to check on them, sleeping in the middle of the floor.


	2. A Father at Twenty-Two

**AN: Will be posting some oneshots written ages ago but didn't fit anywhere previously.**

* * *

Henry hadn't even been gone an hour. He'd closed the garage earlier that week and had been staying with the twins. All he'd wanted to do was check on the house and collect another week's worth of stuff.

Parking the Ford in the drive, he'd sat in the driver's seat a moment and closed his eyes. Mom was gone, and considering how poor her health had been lately it wasn't a major surprise. That didn't make it any easier to take. He was an adult now but just knowing that he'd no longer hear her comforting voice, be able to go to her with his problems or fears left a new gaping hole in his chest, doubled in size since the night he'd learned his father died.

The twins had only just turned seventeen a few months ago.

He was the head of the family now and he didn't know what to do.

Twenty-two years old was too young to be shoved in to a position like that.

Joan would be out later, and he'd have to make sure she knew how much he appreciated her support. He wasn't going to go to Jesse or Ruth with these fears, they needed his stability right now. He couldn't afford to stumble.

With a sigh, he got out of the car and trudged in to the house, only to be bombarded with a whole new set of problems.

Ruth had jumped up from the couch and rushed to meet him at the door, forcing him to drop his small luggage case on the table as she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in to his chest, immediately breaking in to a new round of tears, sobbing harshly and breath hitching to the point that he couldn't understand her. Putting an arm around her, he rubbed her back in an effort to comfort her until finally telling her she needed to calm down.

"I can't understand you. You have _got_ to breathe. Ruth Anne I can't-!"

He'd immediately assumed they were going through a fresh wave of grief for their mother until Jesse held up a card and was rattling off something so fast that Henry wasn't able to understand him either.

"Jesse just...hold on a second will you-"

Ruth continued to cry against him, face flushed and in hysterics. "They're-...not letting us-...they're gunna take us-!"

"Ruth, just stop." Henry rubbed her back in circles and attempted to sooth her. "Breathe, Dipper. It's alright..."

He held a hand out to take the card from Jesse when the twins finally grew quiet. He took one look at the name and profession on the front of the card and looked at Jesse harshly. "What the hell is this?"

"Some man just stopped here asking for you and when I said you were out he left this card and said to have you call him-"

Finally getting a good look at him, Henry realized Jesse was white as a sheet, nearly as bad off as Ruth.

"Did he say anything else?"

Jesse only shook his head, but Ruth hiccuped and huddled closer to their older brother. "They're gunna take us away from you."

"No they aren't."

"Why else would they be here."

"Probably just to check in, don't assume the worst, Ruth."

She swallowed thickly, refusing to budge from where she was as the twins stared at each other miserably. If he didn't know better, Henry would be thought they were communicating telepathically.

"Do you think you can at least sit on the couch while I call this number..."

She nodded and obeyed, followed by Jesse.

"They didn't even wait until after the funeral. We haven't even buried Momma yet..."

"Jesse _please_-" Henry sighed.

He watched them sitting shoulder to shoulder while he held the phone to his ear and couldn't help but think they looked much younger than seventeen. Since they were twins, they'd always been on the small side, and he supposed that might have something to do with this. The man who stopped probably assumed they were merely fifteen, maybe even younger.

They weren't any more calm when he'd gotten off the phone and explained that he'd just go to a few meetings and make sure everything was sorted out. He was sure they could see right through him.

Ruth had looked at her twin in concern. "Would they separate us."

Jesse had only nodded. "I'd go to a boy's home..."

That started the tears all over again, but instead of clinging to Henry, she clung to Jesse, burrying her face in his shoulder.

Henry wished they would just _calm down_, but the conversation he'd just had on the phone hadn't left him feeling very secure. The answers to his questions had been vague and he was repeatedly told he'd get more information at this meeting they scheduled.

"I just want Momma." Ruth whimpered.

Henry watched from the doorway, kicking the heel of one foot with the toe of the other before pushing away from the door frame and stepping in to the living room. He knelt in front of the two, looking between them seriously and was struck again with just how _young_ they all were. They could play grown up all they wanted but all three of them wanted their mother and couldn't hide their fear at that moment.

He wasn't going to pretend. He wasn't going to act like this didn't effect him or brush it aside as being too soft. They needed him right now.

Henry reached out and took a hold of each of their arms, making eye contact with both of them in turns. "You are not going anywhere. You hear me?"

He looked at Ruth first, who nodded sadly, then at Jesse. "Jesse?"

"Yeah..."

"I'll do whatever it takes alright? You're not leaving this house."

The twins had both nodded and he patted their legs before standing up, already stepping in to the roll of parent. "Go get cleaned up for bed."

They hadn't fought him, but they'd rarely stepped out of line growing up anyway.

As the house was shut down for the night, Jesse stared at the window across from him. Lying on his side in bed, he was just able to hear the car that pulled in to the drive. Joan must have just gotten there.

His door opened, and for a brief moment he thought it could have been his mother checking on him before realizing that was impossible. Instead, Ruth climbed over him to lie on the other side of the bed.

"We're a little old for this aren't we?" He muttered miserably.

"I don't care."

"We're-"

"Momma's gone. I don't care."

He turned over to face her, even in the semi dark room it was easy to see how splotchy her face had become with crying.

"Would they really send you to a boy's home? We wouldn't be together?"

He turned on to his back and stared at the ceiling. "You remember Dennis, in school."

"Yeah..."

"He went to a boy's home..."

Ruth was silent, watching his profile silently.

"You'd be adopted pretty quick I think."

"But what about-"

"No one wants a seventeen year old boy, Ruth...I'd obviously be there because I'd done something wrong...that's what people think of boy's homes."

"But I want you to be with me."

"I want-"

"I want us _both_ to be with _Henry_."

Jesse was quiet a moment before looking toward her in the dark. "Me too..."

They'd fallen asleep back to back, their breathing falling in sync as they drifted in and out of consciousness.

* * *

"They want to take them-" Henry muttered in a low tone.

"What? They've practically been looking after themselves the last year..."

"I know...but they don't seem to- Joan I-' He shook his head, whispering quietly on the back porch because he didn't want to somehow be overheard. "I don't know what to do-"

"You fight for them." She murmured encouragingly. "We'll figure something out."

His answer was a low sigh, and she watched his silhouette in the gathering darkness.

"I got another letter today."

"That's encouraging, though, isn't it?"

"I'm getting too old. Even if I accepted I'd be up against kids Jesse's age-"

"But they obviously want you-"

"We'll see...after all this..."

Joan got up from her spot at the table to sit with him. "They're still interested, and you're still as talented as when we were in high school."

"It's not the same. I haven't played in three years-" He shook his head, angry with himself. "-and anyway, I need to focus on this."

"Ok..." She watched him quietly before sighing lowly.

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her shoulder. "Thank you for being here."

"Where else would I be."

"Seeing Matthew Da-"

"Eww-" She laughed before leaning against him. "He's disgusting...how long have we been-"

"Since my last year in school."

"Wow."

He stared at the business card on the table past her shoulder, going back to the previous topic. "I can't let this happen. Who knows what kind of people they'd end up with-"

"Ruth-"

"Is sweet and kind and can make friends with anyone...Jesse would be..." He didnt even want to think about it. "Jesse would be stuck in the system until old enough to leave."

"You don't know that-"

"That's what happens to boys over thirteen. You know the rep those places have."

Joan fell silent, listening to the last of the summer crickets as night dragged on. Finally she took his hand and twined their fingers together. "Then make sure they stay with you."


	3. I Know You

**AN: Deleted scene from Hard Enough Left, the evening Jesse returns home from his stint in jail.**

* * *

She'd been having trouble sleeping that entire week and that night was no exception even with Jesse back home. Maybe it was that she was still so worked up over the whole thing.

She passed his room, paused and did a double take. The door was still partially open like it had been all week and looking within she realized he wasn't there. For a brief moment she panicked, thinking she'd dreamt it all and her brother was still sitting around in a cell somewhere until she heard the back door downstairs open and close. A glance at the wall clock told her it was far too late to be wandering the house. Something was wrong.

She grabbed a sweater she'd left draped over the chair in the living room and passed through the kitchen to push the screen door open slowly. The yellow light above the door barely lit the area of the porch but she could see Jesse at the small table with his back to the rail. He didn't look up at the sound of the screen door, but continued to look out through the darkened yard.

"Hey, Hollywood."

"Hey."

"What're you doing out here so late?" She crossed her arms against the chill he apparently didn't feel.

"Getting some air."

"At one in the morning?"

He shrugged a shoulder. "Seemed as good a time as any."

She sat huddled in on herself, shoulders drawn together uncomfortably. "What's the matter, Jesse."

"I just wanted some air, 's all."

"Mmm..." She wasn't buying it.

After a drawn out moment of silence she tried again. "You haven't been to sleep have you."

"I've had enough sleep the last few days."

Aha...

"Are you ok?"

He finally looked at her in the dim yellow light and nodded faintly.

"I don't know how you can ever play a hand of poker. You're a horrible liar."

"Maybe I've always got a good hand."

"I doubt that." She grinned, but when he didn't react the way she expected him to, it quickly fell.

"Jesse." They hadn't had a good talk in a long time, between him constantly away for races and her illness, they never just sat and talked about _nothing_ anymore.

"What is it, Dipper."

"Tell me why you're sitting on our back porch so late at night."

There was a long silence and she wondered if he was going to answer. She looked across the table to see him turning a book of matches in his hand over and over, Henry usually left them lying around.

"Just felt like being outside."

It struck her suddenly, he'd spent nearly a week in a confined space. She couldn't imagine how the boys must have felt. To take a group who were used to being able to come and go as they pleased, who lived life over a hundred miles an hour, literally and figuratively, and throw them in a ten by ten space for four days. They must have gone stir crazy.

She watched him in silence a few moments and considered him. If there was one thing she knew about her twin was that he was good at putting up a front. It didn't matter the situation. Ruth remembered when they were seven, he'd fallen from the oak tree right out in front and nearly broke an arm. Luckily, or unluckily enough, it had only been dislocated. He'd been forced to wear a sling and hadn't been allowed to leave the porch until it was fully healed.

He'd never made a sound.

"You don't have to be tough all the time." She finally said.

It seemed to take him by surprise. "What?"

"What I just said." She wrapped the sweater around herself tighter. "You're always trying to be so even tempered. In every situation. All it ever does is make you irritable and difficult."

His brows lowered as he regarded her, she knew he'd likely take it as an insult. "Well then pardon me for being difficult."

She groaned lowly. "Cut the sarcasm and just listen to me for once."

"I always-"

"Just stop talking for five minutes."

He fell silent and eyed her sullenly.

"I love you, Jesse. You and Henry are all I have. It hurts to see you do this to yourself."

"Do wh-"

"Let me finish." She frowned before continuing.

"You always have to be the strong one. It's ok not to be the strong one now and then."

He was only silent, waiting for her to continue.

"We have been through so much the last few years. You never allow yourself to react to anything. Some day it's going to catch up to you."

"How am I supposed to react?" He finally asked with a raised brow.

"You're doing it now. You're avoiding it." She replied in frustration. "Weren't you a little scared in Willmington?"

He only shook his head. "It's over with anyw-"

"You are such a liar."

"What am I suppossed to do, sit here and cry over it?"

"Would you feel better?"

"There's nothing to feel better about! I'm fine!"

She only stared at him, taking note of the exhaustion he couldn't hide. The fatigue in his eyes and the slope of his shoulders were telling.

Her tone was soft, yet challenging when she spoke.

"Then tell me...what you're doing out here at one in the morning."

He was silent and only returned her look.

"I thought we trusted each other."

"Ruth. This has nothing to do with-"

"It has everything to do with trust. What do you think your family will do, laugh at you? Think less of you?"

"I'm just not going to sit here and whine over it, alright?" He huffed and leaned back. "I mean, could you imagine, Ruth Anne? Even if I wanted to react the way you're describing- which I don't- It'd just be considered soft. That might have been appropriate when I was five."

Not to mention he suddenly found himself with a reputation within Piston Cup to keep up.

He might have been worked up over it but he just needed a few days to relax, he needed to focus on the race that weekend, that was all.

"You boys are so frustrating."

"Are we really going to argue about this." After a moment he emphasized. "_At one in the morning_?"

She stood up quickly and rounded the table to stand in front of him. He looked surprised momentarily before his expression fell again.

She still held the sweater around herself and knelt forward so they were eye to eye.

"You seem to forget, I know you."

He only looked back at her. "I don't forget that."

Her mouth formed a thin line. When had he gotten so good at avoiding the subject like this?

Maybe she was only projecting her own thoughts and feelings over what happened and was frustrated that he wasn't acting accordingly. Her eyes began to sting and her own facade crumbled.

"Well I was scared."

There, he finally showed some concern. "Ruth..."

"I didn't know what to think, I didn't know they could do that-"

"I'm not sure they really can..."

"That doesn't make me feel any better-"

He sighed lowly and pushed himself up from the chair. If there was one thing he hated, it was seeing her cry, and this time he'd been the cause of it. He hugged her tightly.

"Don't cry. It's over."

They stood on the porch as she slowly calmed, and Jesse thought over the fact that she was right, he had been a little more than just concerned. The breeze picked up, ruffling his hair and causing goose bumps to rise on his arms. It was a pleasant feeling after the stagnant air in the block of cells in Willmington.

He rubbed his hands over her arms in an attempt to help her warm up. "Are you ok?"

"I thought I was the one asking."

"I'm fine." He grinned finally. "Nothing a few days at home can't take care of."

"I just worry about you."

"Don't."

"What else am I going to do?" She sniffed miserably before she hugged him. "One of these days, Jesse Aaron."

"What." He smirked. "You waiting to see the day I have some kind of nervous break down?"

She shook her head, her ear planted firmly against his chest because he was home and healthy and she needed that proof at the moment, listening to the steady heart beat and timber of his voice as it resonated through him.

"I never want to see that. I'm just afraid that someday something will happen and you won't know how to deal with it. Because you're so obnoxiously bullheaded..."

"Don't worry about me."

Ruth frowned, huffing at the constant reminder that there was no one to look out for them. The kitchen table had two very empty chairs. They weren't ready to face the world on their own.

"Someone has to."


	4. Army Green

**AN: Bit of a drabble just to get this out of mind and onto 'paper'.**

* * *

She'd opened the back door as well as the window over the kitchen sink despite the chilly autumn air outside. The oven and stove were doing more then enough work to heat the kitchen as she prepared the evening meal for herself and three growing children.

Jesse had been her most frequent visitor that afternoon, finding some excuse nearly every twenty minutes to be back in the house. The first time, she'd tugged a warm hat over his pink ears. The next time wrapping a scarf around him and commenting on his nose being so red. Finally she'd told him that his next time inside he wouldn't be going back out. He either braved the cold with the other two or was going to be put to work in the kitchen.

She hadn't been surprised not to see him after that.

Sarah could hear their giggling outside and chanced a look up from her work to see the three piling leaves under one of the trees at the edge of the garden. Henry and Jesse would both climb up onto one of the lower branches and jump into the pile, leaves sticking to their hats and scarfs as they rolled and crawled on to the grass. Ruth of course, being the daintier one, had a small step ladder the boys had rounded up from the barn, jumping from only a few steps up. She'd land gracefully on the leaf pile after the other two had made sure it was thick enough for her not to hurt herself. She'd hold her arms out and the boys would help her back up before they all set to fixing the leaf pile once more.

It wouldn't be much longer before dinner was ready, but she would let them burn off as much energy as possible. As well as her children got along with one another, it was still a chore to make sure everyone got baths and ready for bed after supper. Each of them begged and whined to stay up later, and her answer was always the same. If they didn't give her such a hard time in the mornings, maybe they wouldn't have to go to bed so early.

Their father would have let them stay up, and she would have agreed with him, but then make him get them ready for school the next morning.

Glancing up at the sound of the back door, Sarah grinned at her eldest. Lighter hair and blue-gray eyes, Henry took after her when it came to his coloring, but that was about it. Even barely into his teens it was obvious he had his father's build. He'd be tall and broad shouldered. It wouldn't be long before she was looking up at him.

"Are you ready for supper?"

"Yes, momma."

"Get yourself washed up and get the other two please."

Hearing him retreat up the stairs, she caught sight of movement from the corner of her eye out the kitchen window. Their lane didn't get used often, and she normally recognized anyone traveling by the house. Moving to the living room, she pulled the curtain back, taking a sharp breath through her nose as four vehicles made the turn at the end of the road.

Two vehicles trailing behind she recognized as ladies from town, they'd drop in to check on one another, wives of men serving overseas….

The two vehicles leading were army green, a white star stenciled on either door and little American flags above the wheel wells.

"Momma…?"

The uncertainty in her son's voice broke the spell and she looked toward the stairs to see that Henry had stopped midway, seeing the same thing.

"Please get the twins and get them ready for supper."

Neither of them moved as the vehicles pulled to a stop in front of the Hudson home. Sarah's chest ached as she fought not to snap at her son.

"Henry Jacob, do as I ask and take the twins upstairs."

She heard him go back through the house, the sound of confusion in the twins' voices as they entered the house and all three shuffled upstairs. The sight of uniformed men walking up the steps made her heart heavy and she clenched her eyes shut, pursing her lips before taking a deep breath and opening the door.

A sergeant stood with his hand poised to knock on the door, lowering his arm awkwardly before removing his hat. The private beside him following his lead, appearing to have probably never done this before.

"Ma'am."

"Evening, gentlemen."

The private began speaking, but she felt like she were under water, unable to hear everything being said.

"We regret to inform you-"

This wasn't happening, her husband wasn't supposed to have been on any missions. He was a flight instructor….he trained younger men….

Henry Hudson Sr. had begun flying shortly after the first World War….in his mid thirties he held a high enough rank that he wasn't flying missions as a bomber escort. He was supposed to be training younger men….on a base…

"I'm afraid you have the wrong house."

"Mrs. Hudson-"

She held the door knob to keep herself steady, like a lifeline that might keep her going if she just held on tightly enough. Her brow furrowed and she dropped her head briefly before steadying herself once more. Biting back a sob, she tilted her head and looked between the uniformed men.

She was in a daze as she was handed a folded flag, and a ribbon for her window. Thanked for her husband's as well as her families sacrifice for the country. All she could manage before closing the door was a look toward the other cars parked on the lane.

"Please tell the ladies that followed you here, that I am will not be seeing company at the moment." She'd been part of those little motorcades before. Offering comfort to widowed women of the service. She didn't want it right now.

She didn't hear what was said as they turned to leave. Sarah closed the door quietly behind them and held the flag to her face to fight off the urge to scream.

Her husband was gone, her greatest fear even before the moment he'd left had come true.

She clenched her teeth, holding back the sobs that wracked her frame and tried to remain as quiet as possible. There were three children she needed to be strong for.

* * *

Upstairs, huddled around the window of Ruth's room, as it had the best vantage point of the road. The siblings stared through the frosted glass as the men returned to their vehicles. Shadows from the blinds striped their faces as Ruth looked away and up to Henry. Her nose still pink from their time playing outside.

"I don't like those men…."

Henry didn't look away from the window, listening to their mother's footsteps coming up the stairs.

"I don't either."

Jesse watched the vehicles drive away with his chin in his hands, his elbows on the windowsill.

Supper was forgotten that night, and the giggling that Sarah had been enjoying shortly beforehand was replaced with hiccuping sobs from her little ones who'd had their hearts broken at such a young age.

* * *

"Come, my darlings." Sarah situated the quilt on her bed and made room for each of them. Her room quiet and the house still after the shock of the evening. Ruth sniffled quietly as she curled up against her on one side. Jesse and Henry slow to follow. She brushed her fingers through each child's hair, needing to have them close.

"I'll never see daddy again." Ruth muttered brokenly, wiping her nose with her hand before sitting up and sliding off the bed. Jesse's eyes following her from the other side of their mother as she returned with a stuffed dog.

As the twins cuddled into her sides, she watched with tears in her own eyes as Jesse craned his neck around to see Henry, offering his hand at an awkward angle. She reached forward at the same time, running her hand over Henry's hair and bringing him closer. Her voice a cracked whisper as she told them all how much she loved them. How much their dad had loved them.

She wouldn't be fighting with them to get ready for school in the morning, instead they'd be figuring out how to move on as a family, minus one.


End file.
